Everybody here is talking about it being a "good move" and such to install a cooler on Hondas but what I don't hear are oil temp numbers. How hot do these things get? That has always been the measure of whether a car really needs more cooling or not. Adding extra cooling to a trans that doesn't need it does nothing or the money spent and if operated in a cold climate, overcooling can cause some issues.
I used to have a wonderful mechanical gauge that I could hook up to all sorts of things (sadly it is now dead) but years ago I installed it on my 2000 Honda Accord and didn't note any temps that were out of bounds ... AT LEAST THE WAY WE OPERATED THE CAR (185-200F was max and 160-180 was typical). That will be the big difference. People whose cars operate in a city environment with lots of cycles (shifts) and lots of time with the converter locking and unlocking are likely to see higher temps that I do operating in a rural environment.
Being that David1 is in FL, it eliminates the possibilities of overcooling in winter and the higher ambient temps may be an indicator of higher trans temps, so I am not questioning his choice in this case. All I am counseling here, for him and others, is to include some objectivity into the process. Many of the experts on this that I have consulted over the years say that job one is to first install a trans temp gauge, monitor it for long enough to determine whether you need more cooling and how much extra cooling you need if you do. Following that advice has saved me money in a few cases by showing I didn't need a bigger cooler... but probably also saved the transmissions in my working rigs by showing me I needed an auxiliary cooler or a bigger one.
